ASSOCIATION FOCUS
SOCIETY OF AMERICAN LAW TEACHERS (SALT)
WANT TO BOOST THE NUMBER OF WELL-QUALIFIED MINORITY LAW SCHOOL APPLICANTS? HOW ABOUT TRAINING THEIR ADVISERS? T at’s the theory behind the Society of American
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Law Teachers’ BA to JD pipeline program. At conferences held throughout the U.S., organizers train pre-law advis- ers, law school admissions counselors, legal educators, and lawyers on how best to prepare students for law school. T is ranges from running well-developed pre-law programs to helping students craf t better law school applications. For 40 years
SALT has worked to bring diverse and di senf r anchi sed communities into law academia and the law profession in order to foster greater social justice in the United States. Last October, it took its third Bachelor of Arts (BA) to
BY BRIAN DABBS
member and a prolifi c author. “T e advise rs, students, and others, all wanted to learn the information and were primed for it. We gave them tips. And these tips are as good as gold.” Run by a volunteer board and co-presidents who serve
two-year terms, SALT is an advocacy non-profi t with about 500 members that focuses on equal opportunity and human rights issues in the legal academy and profession. In addition to the BA to JD pipeline launched in 2011,
“WE, AT SALT, DO NOT BELIEVE THE LSAT IS A VALID INDICATOR OF A STUDENT’S POTENTIAL SUCCESS.”—OLYMPIA DUHART
Juris Doctor (JD) pipeline program to Texa s, which is the epicenter of diversity issues. Immigration reform will have a huge impact on the state bordering Mexico, and the state continues to respond to Fisher v. the University of Texas, a Supreme Court case that revisited affi rmative action legality in higher education admission. Held at the University of Houston, the BA to JD pro-
gram ranged from a talk on recent changes in student loan repayment plans to an LSAT training session for students by Princeton Review Foundation Executive Director Jay Rosner to a discussion on the prospective Fisher fallout. “Its utility and value are obvious on its face,” says
Michael Olivas, William B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law Director at University of Houston, the BA to JD pipeline program coordinator. Olivas is also a lifetime SALT
DIVERSITY & THE BAR® JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
SALT sponsors teacher break-in programs, mentor pro- grams, law school diversity conferences, and other teacher conferences, while writing amicus briefs on such high-pro- fi le Supreme Court cases as Fisher and Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affi rmative Action. SALT members also write white papers on ABA accreditation standards. T e BA to JD pipeline programs will likely grow, according to co-president elect Olympia Duhart, professor of law and director of the Lawyering Skills and Values Program at the Shepard Broad
Law Center at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Duhart, who delivered opening remarks at the BA to JD pipeline program in Houston, lauds the program for pro- viding advisers with tools to help students better market their skill sets and experiences. “In the law school application process, there is a huge
emphasis put on standardized test scores. In order to address that, we gave some advisers some practical tips on how to deal with the LSAT. We, at SALT, do not believe the LSAT is a valid indicator of a student’s potential suc- cess,” says Duhart, who shares the presidency with Ruben Garcia, professor of law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ William S. Boyd School of Law. “But schools rely heavily on the test. So we try to help
advisers help students leverage a holistic application through emphasizing their diverse backgrounds in mission statements. If you have a female candidate who was a basketball player for instance, that applicant could emphasize her leadership
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